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The Wild One

Play trailer Poster for The Wild One Released Dec 30, 1953 1h 19m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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75% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 71% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Johnny (Marlon Brando) and his motorcycle gang roll into Carbonville for a biker competition and raise enough hell to get kicked out of town. They repair to nearby Wrightsville and continue their reign of terror. The local sheriff (Robert Keith) is helpless to stop them, but when a rival gang arrives, he manages to arrest their leader, Chino (Lee Marvin). Meanwhile, Johnny finds himself attracted to the sheriff's daughter, Kathie (Mary Murphy), and decides to stick around.
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The Wild One

Critics Reviews

View All (24) Critics Reviews
Gavin Lambert Sight & Sound In [director] Laslo Benedek the American cinema has an unusual talent, with a solidity and a spirit of humane inquiry which gives this film, in its faults as well as its virtues, a genuine and independent quality. Mar 17, 2020 Full Review Milton Luban The Hollywood Reporter Marlon Brando turns in a tremendously powerful performance as the inarticulate, frozen-faced, truculent outlaw who heads the gang of motorcycle hoodlums. Jan 25, 2018 Full Review Dave Kehr Chicago Reader Legions of Brando impersonators have turned his performance in this seminal 1954 motorcycle movie into self-parody, but it's still a sleazy good time. Nov 7, 2007 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia Aside from Brando's presence as the rebel with a cause, I find the way it interrogates motorcycle gangs and juvenile delinquency quite bland. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 5/10 Oct 27, 2022 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review The Wild One's status as a cultural marker remains undeniable. Rated: 3/4 Feb 23, 2022 Full Review Clyde Gilmour Maclean's Magazine A violent, frightening and quite distasteful melodrama about a gang of hoodlum cyclists (led by Marlon Brando) who terrorize a sleepy town. Some of the acting is excellent. Nov 5, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Wayne K It’s not an exaggeration to say that Marlon Brando exploded onto the movie scene in the 1950s, essentially rewriting the acting rulebook and inspiring a whole new generation to give it a shot. His role in The Wild One might not be his most acclaimed, but its easily one of his most iconic. It’s a movie that came out at exactly the right time. Any earlier and it might have been dismissed as ridiculous; any later and it may have been written off as dated and passé. But being released during the era of the American teen cult, it did for bikers and bike gangs what Rebel Without A Cause did for street racers. Brando is a commanding presence onscreen, and here we can see the germ of Stanley Kowalski, though by his own admission he played this role with more sensitivity and sympathy than the script contained. It’s a film concerned with the generational divide, with violence and unrest, and the need to pin the ills and woes of society onto any group that dares to stand out and not follow the exact letter of the law. You can see the metaphors about division and abuse of power in the characters, from the rowdy but mostly harmless biker gangs to the lawmen who are either too cowardly or under the thumb to enact any kind of meaningful authority. The romance at its heart never goes as far as you’d think it would, and you see the characters grapple with their truest feelings while doing their best to repress them. Rebel Without A Cause might have been the contemporary teenager’s cultural flashpoint, but never forget The Wild One did it first. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/15/24 Full Review Lanfranco C Marlon is great in a good movie! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/01/24 Full Review Alejandro E One of the films that started the trend of the young rebel against authority and the system, with an incipient Marlon Brando, in one of his signature roles. Absorbing throughout its 81 minutes, which are unfortunately little for something so good. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/31/24 Full Review Blobbo X Solid production all around plus good acting from Brando, Lee Marvin, Mary Murphy and the rest. Nice to see Mr Kimball there in the gang, too. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/11/24 Full Review Rami A This may not be Brando's best film, but it certainly is entertaining. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/05/24 Full Review erroll f The difinitive biker movie that paved the way for much wilder biker films .Brando of course chews up the scenery with his inimitable method and accent. Lee Marvin,in an early role, rides into town with his Beetles gang (Lennon/McCartney see the movie?) and Brando flattens him. With a pretty thin script,this Brando star vehicle is paced well to hold most viewers interest. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Wild One

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Movie Info

Synopsis Johnny (Marlon Brando) and his motorcycle gang roll into Carbonville for a biker competition and raise enough hell to get kicked out of town. They repair to nearby Wrightsville and continue their reign of terror. The local sheriff (Robert Keith) is helpless to stop them, but when a rival gang arrives, he manages to arrest their leader, Chino (Lee Marvin). Meanwhile, Johnny finds himself attracted to the sheriff's daughter, Kathie (Mary Murphy), and decides to stick around.
Director
Laslo Benedek
Producer
Stanley Kramer
Screenwriter
John Paxton
Distributor
Columbia Pictures
Production Co
Columbia Pictures
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 30, 1953, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 16, 2012
Runtime
1h 19m
Sound Mix
Mono
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